


We Hold These Truths (Listen to my Declaration)

by SilverRose42



Series: These Women Who Will Conquer [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Author Is Sleep Deprived, BAMF Darcy Lewis, BAMF Natasha Romanov, BAMF Pepper Potts, BAMF Steve Rogers, F/F, F/M, Female Steve Rogers, Feminism, Feminist Steve Rogers, Feminist Themes, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, I Wrote This Instead of Sleeping, LGBTQ Themes, Lesbian Character, Manipulative Nick Fury, Nick Fury Lies, Pansexual Character, Swearing, The Author Regrets Everything, The Author Regrets Nothing, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, this is why i can't have nice things
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-14
Updated: 2016-01-14
Packaged: 2018-05-13 22:03:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5718715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilverRose42/pseuds/SilverRose42
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Captain Stephanie Rogers went under the ice, the world had a dim view on women, and were very restricting on what a woman should and should not do. It was indeed a damn miracle in and of itself that Steph got picked for the program, let alone got to serve on the front lines. Steph’s still convinced that Peggy had something to do with that.</p><p>When she wakes, nearly fifty years later, Steph Rogers is <em>pissed as hell</em> that the current view of women remains much the same.</p><p> </p><p>OR: The one in which Stephen is really Stephanie, and not much really changes (except everything does).</p>
            </blockquote>





	We Hold These Truths (Listen to my Declaration)

**Author's Note:**

> This ignores Civil War entirely.
> 
>  
> 
> Also, Steph's got the worst potty mouth ever. You have been warned.

When Captain Stephanie Rogers went under the ice, the world had a dim view on women, and were very restricting on what a woman should and should not do. It was indeed a damn miracle in and of itself that Steph got picked for the program, let alone got to serve on the front lines. Steph’s still convinced that Peggy had something to do with that.

When she wakes, nearly fifty years later, Steph Rogers is _pissed as hell_ that the current view of women remains much the same.

Steph is also _pissed as hell_ that this Director Nick Fury has decided to keep her locked up within SHIELD as though she’s some precious, breakable doll. Stephanie has never once been breakable. And Nick Fury can fuck off as far she’s concerned. He’s lying to her anyway, Steph can tell. Bastard.

~*~

Steph manages to slip whoever’s supposed to be babysitting her. Steph remains firmly of the opinion that she doesn’t need a babysitter, but SHIELD disagrees. So obviously, the only correct response is to loose the babysitter and actually explore New York.

New York today is big. It’s gotten taller, faster, busier, if that was even possible. It’s loud, exciting, and rude. And Steph loves every bit of it. Adores it even. She explores as much as she can, drinking in her home city with a giddy sort of joy she hasn’t felt sense Bucky fell off that train.

SHIELD finally catches up to her when she’s badgering a bemused shopkeeper on Broadway. They drag her back to their current set up, and sic her with more attentive babysitters.

In retaliation, Steph finds a pair of safety scissors, and cuts off almost all of her hair, which everyone has been insisting she keep in Victory Rolls (such a stupid idea, Steph was working back then, she didn’t have the time for Victory Rolls).

It’s worth the screaming fit Fury has when he sees her later.

~*~

Loki happens. Fury comes and drags her out of the room they’ve stashed her in. She goes willingly, mostly because she’s _bored_ , and hasn’t Fury heard of _books_ at the very _least_.

She meets Natasha Romanoff, and she thinks that Peggy would have definitely liked this woman. She meets Dr. Banner, and quietly wonders how much Fury grates on his nerves. She meets Thor, and rolls her eyes at the hammer, because _really_? That’s just asking for jokes. She meets Tony Stark, and decides that if the circumstances were different, she might actually like Tony. But right now all she sees is Howard, and that simply _will not fly_.

She and Tony fight and posture with each other, and when it becomes clear that this is the fault of that spear, Steph thinks _bad_ , and goes to do what she can when the attack comes.  
.  
Enough people see her that Fury can’t really keep her a secret anymore. She takes Tony up on his offer to let them live in the Tower. It might be big and ugly, but it’s better than SHIELD. Better than Fury.

Besides, she was never Fury’s to begin with. No matter what he thought.

~*~

It’s because of this that Steph meets Pepper Potts, who is _amazing_. Pepper takes Steph shopping for modern clothing, and shows her more of the modern world.

Steph discovers the jeans are a gift to women, and that sweatpants are the _best_. She also discovers sneakers. She doesn’t discard her heels, but she does stop wearing them as much.

~*~

Natasha take her bra shopping, and Steph will be eternally grateful for that. Why Fury thought that the improved underwear should not be in her wardrobe was beyond her.

When Nat hears that, she shakes her head and calls Fury some very nasty things in Russian that Steph will never, ever repeat. Mostly so that she can fake plausible deniability later.

~*~

She gets to know Tony better, mostly because Tony does not deserve to be seen through her absolute disgust with Howard.

He introduces her to technology. He shows her all the social media sites, and then lets her free on the world. He calls her Cap, and he compliments her haircut. He lets her sit in his lab and asks all the questions she wants. He never once makes a move on her. She stops looking at him like he’s Howard.

Later, he’ll tell her all about his absolutely horrific childhood, and Steph will vow that if Howard ever manages to time travel, she is going to throttle him, because she’s actually likes Tony, and Howard is a grade A dick. She informs Tony of all of this, and he decides that she is actually pretty awesome.

~*~

She finally meets Clint outside the field of work when she catches him perching on top of the refrigerator at two in the morning. She informs him that he looks absolutely ridiculous up there, has anyone told him yet?

Clint stares at her before barking out a laugh that is both confused and gleeful. “You’re not as sweet and innocent as the media made you out to be, are you?”

Steph just gives him a grin that’s more shit-eating that innocent, and Clint laughs again.

Nat finds them later that morning playing Mario Kart and telling bad jokes.

~*~

In the end, it’s Darcy Lewis that introduces Steph to the fact that protest rallies are totally still a thing, if her righteous anger is still intact. Steph looks so ready to fight for equality that Darcy laughs and drags her to a feminist rally, working for equal pay.

Steph meets women who protested for Suffrage, and women who are new to this whole “protest” thing, but would like to get payed as well as men anyway. Steph grabs a sign, and the next morning her face is all over the news.

Tony compliments her look of sheer outrage in the photos, and then proceeds to assure her that everyone gets equal pay at SI. They get a phone call from that Rat-Bastard-Fury who kept Phil’s survival from them. He yells at the both of them, until Steph very politely informs him that he can take his sexism and bite her.

~*~

Darcy introduces her to all of the music she missed, including show tunes. Steph falls in love with Chicago, and learns to rap all of Hamilton.

Darcy also introduces her to the LGBT community. Steph buys Darcy a t-shirt proclaiming that her “Sexual Preference is YEAH!”

Darcy buys Steph a t-shirt that proclaims “Women owe you NOTHING.” Steph wears it to ever feminist rally she goes to.

~*~

Steph goes to visit Peggy, of course. She’s gotten old, but she’s still stunning. She informs Peggy of such, and manages to ask if she was happy in the end.

Peggy had fallen in love with a woman named Angie, and Tony was her godson. Steph’s grateful that Peggy ended up with her own Happily Ever After, even if it didn’t involve her. It’s really the least Peggy deserves.

~*~

SHIELD turns out to by Hydra. Steph thinks that Fury is a part of it, but no, he’s just clueless.

In the end, Phil becomes Director, and he is much better than Fury. It also means that Fury can no longer call her to scream about what a huge mistake she made, leaving SHIELD.

Steph meets Sam Wilson, and immediately takes a liking to him. He’s nice enough to hid both her and Nat in his home when everything goes to hell. He’s awesome like that, and she’s impressed when he doesn’t take any of Fury’s bullshit. Steph decides she’s keeping him.

~*~

It turns out, Bucky’s been alive this whole time. And he’s been under mind-control. Steph goes back to being _pissed as hell_ , something she hasn’t quite been since Loki. If Pierce wasn’t already dead, she would kill him herself. Because Pierce has suddenly taken Fury’s place as No. 1 Bastard on Steph’s hit list.

She, Sam, and Nat chase Bucky around the world. The chase ends in Brooklyn, and Bucky works his way towards being _Bucky_ again, not just the Winter Soldier. He’ll never be the same, Steph knows, but then again, neither is she. But she’ll still help him however she can.

~*~

Bucky gets better, and he starts trailing after her again. It’s comforting, really. She knows he’s not there to try and be a protector, it’s just the position he’s always taken. He trails after her, and helps her when she needs it, mostly by politely handing her barstools when she needs them.

The other Avengers just watch them both with an amused trepidation.

~*~

Darcy meets Bucky, and looks at him appreciatively. She looked at Steph that way too. Steph’s chill with it.

~*~

A reporter asks if Steph’s got some lucky guy somewhere. He, of course, asks in the middle of a rally for LGBT rights.

Steph replies that she doesn’t no, and she never will. Because she doesn’t like men that way.

The reporter stares at her in shock. Bucky stands behind her trying to look intimidating, but someone’s given him a flower crown to wear, so he’s not really succeeding. They’re both holding signs that are calling for equal rights for all sexualities. The reporter is staring at both of them, and Steph is getting tired of it.

She’s at a LGTB rally. While she could totally have just been an ally, she wasn’t, and it was rude of him to ask. She was in the middle of something. She tells him as much, before spinning on her heel, and marching away. She receives cheers from the group.

~*~

After the incident with the reporter, Maria stops sending her out to talk to the press, mostly because she knows that someone should try to control Steph’s righteous anger and lack of forethought.

(If Maria does send her off to talk to someone particularly pig-headed, well. Steph’s certainly not going to mention anything.)

**Author's Note:**

> Fem!Steve is always good. Especially is Fem!Steve is also LGBT!Steve. In which case things are better.
> 
> I like comments, and kudos, and nice things. Flames only bring sadistic smiles to my face.
> 
> ~ Silver Rose


End file.
